Sky Arts At Baltic Centre Of Contemporary Art

The latest exhibition from photographer Martin Parr

BALTIC presents the only UK showing of Parrworld by the highly regarded and influential British photographer Martin Parr. The show is presented over two floors; the first containing Luxury, a collection of over 40 recent works by Parr with the second floor housing more than 150 prints from some of the world’s most famous and significant photographers and photographic books and a range of objects from Parr’s personal collection.

For his new series Luxury, Parr shows the different ways in which people display their wealth. Choosing various locations across the world, and a range of situations including art fairs and race courses, including Newcastle’s premier horse racing event The Northumbrian Plate, he has selected scenarios in which people are comfortable showing off their wealth. Designer clothes, champagne and parties are all part of this repertoire. As well as the more established wealth hot spots in Europe and America, there are photographs from the emerging world, for example showing the Millionaires’ Fair in Moscow, the Dubai Art Fair and the Motor Show in Beijing.

An extraordinary collection of photographs has been brought together for the exhibition, exemplifying Parr’s respect and admiration for his peers. Presented here are works by UK photographers Jill Constantine, Paul Graham and Richard Billingham. There are several with North East associations; Chris Killip whose 1980s images of Tyneside endure, the photographer Graham Smith with his images of Teeside as well as current Newcastle based artist, Mark Neville. These are shown alongside works from highly respected international photographers such as the South African, David Goldblatt, William Eggleston, (US) Frank Breuer (Germany) Gary Winogrand, (US) Bernd and Hilla Becher (Germany).

Alongside the photography Parr shows, through his often quirky collections of postcards and personally collected objects, his real individual flair as an inveterate collector whose fascination for the peculiar and the curious are displayed. This assortment of commercial design and memorabilia documents key historical and political moments with original posters and leaflets from the 1984 UK miners strike, a collection of commemorative china from Margaret Thatcher’s term as Prime Minister, examples of prayer mats featuring the New York Twin Towers, a bizarre range of Saddam Hussein watches and his most recent collection of Barack Obama ephemera.

Also on show at BALTIC is a new work by Malcolm McLaren entitled Shallow. Shallow is a series of original musical paintings or cut-ups composed by McLaren from appropriated clips lifted from film which depict people before sex.

This collection of musical paintings - portraits of people thinking, desiring, wanting, wishing, imagining having sex, have been dug out of the ruins of pop culture: pornographic films and pop music. McLaren has likened them to a map of feelings that navigate both the ‘look of music’ and the ‘sound of fashion’. Shallow has been shown to critical acclaim in Art Basel, London’s Royal Academy and in Times Square, New York.

To find out more got to www.balticmill.com